We all have a past or baggage if you will, but it’s important to remember that the things that have happened in our past are experiences for us to grow from and to make us stronger. The things that have happened are not who we are or who we have to be. Nothing that has happened in a person’s life was meant to hold them back or bring them down. Too many times we allow our past experiences of all kinds to weigh us down so badly that we allow them to cloud our judgment, affect how we make decisions, and prevent us from moving forward.

So many times things don’t go as we would like them to, or we are unable to live up to someone’s expectations of us, and we allow those things to weigh on us. We then dig into our “bags of the past” and pull out an excuse on why things are not going right for us, or why we can’t do something in the present. We hold onto and collect this baggage like in some way it is going to protect us; when really what it’s doing is blocking our blessings. In most cases we are not allowing ourselves to live, we are not allowing ourselves to grow, and most importantly in many cases, we are not allowing ourselves to truly love ourselves or others.

Experiences are just that–experiences. You take what you need and you discard the rest. The good you hold onto to get you through the difficult times, and the unpleasant experiences you take the lesson learned, and you move on. You should ever allow any experience to stop you from living their best life.